Dutchess County has developed an Enterprise-wide GIS. The basic mandate for any enterprise GIS application is to ensure that all agencies within an organization have access to GIS information so that they can operate at a higher efficiency. An enterprise GIS provides greater consistency and accuracy from system-wide management, more efficient use and sharing of data, reduced redundancy of data across the system, better use of departmental GIS resources, and reduced maintenance and support costs.
This has been a long term effort enabled by the high level of inter-departmental cooperation focused on adopting standards for GIS data, software, hardware, and applications. This in turn has enabled the development of centralized applications so that more people, including municipal governments and the public, can benefit from using GIS. The mapping applications ParcelAccess and GeoAccess that are available to you from home or your office are visible outcomes of this successful strategy.
At a very high level we can describe the Enterprise GIS organization in Dutchess County with three components.
Component 1. Individual County departments create and maintain GIS data.
GIS data creation is a highly specialized skill and can only be done with specialized software. Various County departments are responsible for managing the numerous GIS data layers the County maintains. A listing of these departments is available in the General Information Contacts section. Key to the success of the County’s GIS program is that the data is standardized, documented, and stored in a central GIS data warehouse.
Component 2. Communication and Cooperation.
The County has established a GIS Executive Committee that meets monthly. The Committee establishes policies, procedures, and standards so that data is easily exchangeable and usable between departments. The Committee provides a forum where goals and priorities can be discussed and decisions made about the best way to use County GIS resources.
Component 3. Technical solutions are implemented.
Departmental data creation, documentation, and maintenance is the fuel of the enterprise GIS. However, a fairly robust technical component is required to provide GIS “bridges” between the departments, municipalities and the public. These components include providing and maintaining centralized data servers, developing GIS solutions, developing GIS mapping applications built to give non-GIS professionals access to the data, and linking the array of servers and computer programs.
Access to Dutchess County Public GIS
The public has access to two powerful web mapping applications on the Internet. These are ParcelAccess and GeoAccess. They are designed to be accessed as stand-alone applications, or as you may have noticed, the Dutchess County site has map buttons that jump into GeoAccess.
GIS professionals can order GIS data from the “Ordering GIS Data and Services” section. Further information about Dutchess County GIS Standards are available from the “GIS Standards” section.
From Work or Home:
To access Dutchess County web mapping applications from home or work, please go to the Dutchess County home page at www.dutchessny.gov and select the Maps/GIS button.
Public Workstations:
Options are available for individuals wanting to access the web applications other than from home. There are numerous public workstations throughout the County. There are public workstation available at:
Public Libraries. Many libraries have computers available to the public. It is best to call your local library to ask about availability.
Municipal Town Halls. Some municipalities have arranged to have a public workstation available in their Town Hall. Please contact your municipal town hall to ask whether they have a public GIS station available.
Dutchess County has developed an Enterprise-wide GIS. The basic mandate for any enterprise GIS application is to ensure that all agencies within an organization have access to GIS information so that they can operate at a higher efficiency. An enterprise GIS provides greater consistency and accuracy from system-wide management, more efficient use and sharing of data, reduced redundancy of data across the system, better use of departmental GIS resources, and reduced maintenance and support costs.
From Work or Home: